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Novel Catalog
Chapter_266
s James finished his explanation, Yvonne’s eyes went wide with shock. Tears welled up as her voice trembled.
“Then… what about my dad?” she asked desperately.
James’s tone softened. “Your father has a wealth of biotechnology knowledge and five years of experience with FS Microbacteria. Even the Moliga Empire’s political elites wouldn’t dare harm someone so valuable—not easily, at least.”
“Then… is there a chance he can return to Drakonia?” Yvonne pressed on, hope flickering in her voice.
“There’s a chance,” James admitted, “but… it won’t be easy.”
“Dad…” Yvonne whispered, and tears slid freely down her cheeks.
James gently shifted the subject. “Yvonne, did you put that crystal ball into your suitcase?”
Yvonne blinked, then shook her head, hugging her stuffed Winnie the Pooh even tighter. “No… the crystal ball is inside this!”
James stared at the plush toy in her arms.
Yvonne sniffled and explained, “My dad gave me this for my 16th birthday. Later, he gave me another gift—a crystal ball. He told me it was very important and that I must never lose it.”
She recalled how she had struggled with where to hide something so precious, until finally, an idea struck. She asked a classmate—whose family had a background in taxidermy—to help embed the crystal ball into her stuffed animal.
Yvonne pointed at Pooh’s left eye. “This one. It looks just like the other, but it’s actually the crystal ball.”
The two eyes were nearly indistinguishable, yet one contained a secret no one could have guessed.
Only when Hera mentioned someone had taken a box from her luggage earlier did the gravity of the situation hit her. And now, with Uncle James’s full explanation, the true value of the crystal ball dawned on her completely.
James exhaled in relief, visibly impressed. “So… FS Microbacteria is still with us?”
Yvonne wiped her face and managed a small, proud smile. “Yes! I hid it really well, didn’t I?”
“You’re brilliant,” James said with genuine admiration. “Just like your father.”
In the front seat, Nash relaxed and chuckled. “Then what the hell did that thief take from your luggage? He’s a foreign agent, right? Doesn’t he know what he’s looking for? Or was there another crystal ball?”
Yvonne nodded. “There was. My dad made a duplicate. That one was in the box. It also contains bacteria—but a different kind.”
Meanwhile, in a dark, low-rent hotel room, the man in the suit sat by the bedside, eyes gleaming as he opened the box he had risked everything to steal.
Inside was a crystal-clear orb.
At its center was a tiny, glimmering speck.
With swift, practiced movements, he retrieved a suitcase from under the bed and opened it to reveal an array of tools: test tubes, petri dishes, vials, and a compact microscope. He connected the microscope to his laptop, then used tweezers to crush the crystal ball over a sterile petri dish, shaking loose the granular speck inside.
As the microscope magnified the specimen, his screen came alive with swarming microbial forms.
The man smirked darkly.
He snapped a photo of the laptop screen and sent it off.
Then, he stood by the window, pulling out his phone.
“I have the item. Have the money ready,” he said with smug confidence.
But the voice on the other end roared in rage:
“You idiot! That’s dysentery bacteria!”
The man in the suit froze. “Dysentery? What’s that supposed to—”
A sudden, violent cramp seized his abdomen.
Pain stabbed through his gut like a blade. His expression contorted in confusion, then horror.
He clutched his stomach, which now gurgled and bloated as if ready to explode.
Eyes wide with panic, he dropped the phone and bolted toward the bathroom.
Somewhere, hundreds of kilometers away, someone else was already laughing.